The Blame Game.
"The devil made me do it"! That used to be the well-known line of comedian, Flip Wilson. I look around now and wonder if that kind of "pass-the-buck" thinking has not reached epidemic proportions in our society. Of course, this blame game is as old as Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Adam blamed Eve for tempting him and Eve blamed the snake! No one wanted to accept responsibility.
I saw a cartoon recently in which the Judge was questioning the defendant along these lines: "How do you plead? Guilty? Not Guilty? Not guilty by reason of insanity? Not guilty by reason of hypoglycaemic sugar reaction? Not guilty by reason of caffeine, nicotine or drug withdrawal? Or, not guilty because of inadequate parenting?"
Does it bother you that in our legal system these days there seems to be a willingness to excuse violent and destructive behaviour on the grounds that the person committing the offence wants to pass the blame on to someone or something else? The number of people who seem to have the integrity to say, "It is my fault" when they have done wrong is declining rapidly.
"Diminished responsibility" is a phrase I am hearing again and again from the Court Rooms of our country as people find ways to avoid responsibility for their choices and actions. I read recently of an employee who always turned up late for work and, as a result, was fired. He sued his employee and his lawyer argued that he suffered from 'chronic lateness syndrome'! What next?!
Whilever we can pass the blame to others and avoid the responsibility and consequences of our own decisions and choices, we will never have to deal with our own attitudes and their impact on the lives of others.
This is also true in our relationship with God. A new relationship with God begins with our willingness to acknowledge the reality of sin and rebellion in our hearts, to accept responsibility for our own condition and to be willing to turn away from that attitude of rebellion and self-centred living. That's what the Bible calls 'Repentance'. That's when I say to God, "I'm at fault and I am sorry."
